Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist Chills Devils

TOM CANAVANAssociated Press

Rangers close in on home-ice advantage throughout playoffs

NEW YORK — Rick Nash scored his career-best 42nd goal of the season, Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves, and the New York Rangers moved closer to securing home-ice advantage for the playoffs with a 6-1 victory Saturday night over the New Jersey Devils.

New York has played one fewer game than the Canadiens and two fewer than the Ducks and Lightning. There are four games remaining in the regular season.

While Nash started the outburst early, Lundqvist was exceptional throughout.

Playing for the fourth time since returning from a neck injury that sidelined him for almost two months, Lundqvist withstood an early push by the Devils and made at least a half-dozen saves that had the crowd chanting "Hen-reek" several times.

That bodes well for New York with the playoffs starting in just over a week.

"The King" was iffy in his return against the Boston Bruins but has since shaken the rust off in wins over Winnipeg, Minnesota and now the Devils.

New Jersey, which helped the Rangers out Friday by beating Montreal in a shootout, didn't score until Tuomo Ruutu found the net with 3:30 to play.

Nash gave the Rangers the lead about five minutes after the opening face-off, deflecting a Mats Zuccarello pass past Devils goalie Cory Schneider, who was replaced by Keith Kinkaid after giving up three goals on six shots.

Nash's 42 goals tie him with Phil Esposito (78-79) and Marian Gaborik (2009-10) for the 11th highest total by a Ranger in a season.

Yandle stretched the lead to 2-0 at 11:59 with a shot from the right point on which he faked a pass and seemed to catch Schneider off guard.

Moore scored his first goal 25 seconds later after the Rangers caught the Devils on a counterattack and he beat Schneider in close.

Stepan's 14th goal of the season came on a breakaway set up by Nash with 2.7 seconds remaining in the second period.

Brassard scored early in the third on a shot that hit off a New Jersey defenseman, and Moore got his second with a deflection of a Ryan McDonagh shot.

Zuccarello has had three goals and six assists in his last nine games.